Job Search Advice

Stepping Up to a Better Career was created to help job seekers nationwide find fulfilling employment by providing advice on resume writing, interviewing, job searching and more.  For the past year, I have upheld that goal by creating topics that I felt would be interesting to the 100 loyal readers I have each day.

Now I feel it is time to turn over the reigns.  I want to hear your specific questions and concerns and provide you with advice that will aid you in finding fulfilling employment and fast.

Have a question about transitioning careers? Looking for employment while keeping your old job? Networking to find employment? Moving from nonprofit work to the business sector?

Explaining laid-off or fired status? Job searching on the internet? Keeping a job after your company has been bought out or your department is being phased out?

Creating a resume? Formatting a resume? Specific resume samples? Types of resumes?

Following up on an interview? Negotiating your salary? Creating a cover letter?

If you have any questions about your job search…

Contact me!  You can choose to comment directly on this blog or you can e-mail me your questions at Resumes@AyeshaWrites4u.com and see your question appear in my next post.

All I ask is that along with your question(s), you send your first name and an e-mail address where I can contact you to let you know that your answer is being posted on the blog.

As always, good luck on your job search.

Ayesha Long

www.AyeshaWrites4u.com

Online Scammers are still at it…

On Tuesday, I wrote the blog post “You’ve found a job…or not?”. In this post, I wrote about clear cut signs to tell if a prospective company is legitimate or if it is a scam.  Due to the number of employment scams that have increased in the past year, I felt it was necessary to let my readers know of these predatory practices.  It’s no longer investment scams that people must fear.

Now people are benefiting from the media’s constant display of unemployment rates, job seekers restlessness at not finding employment, and the lack of positive responses employees are getting after sending out hundreds of resumes.  Even worse, there are thousands of employees fearful of being laid-off or fired in the near future and they too are adding to the droves of people now seeking new employment.  With that said, there is a multitude of people that predatory companies can target to profit from other people’s suffering and desperation.

Yesterday, the New York Times discovered the same predatory phenomenon occurring throughout the internet.  I decided to share this article with you because while the tips are helpful, the most shocking aspect is the profile of Claude Vera, a employment scam victim who now owes Chase $6,700.

What makes this scam so profound is that Claude was actually paid by the company.  They sent him money orders to purchase the laptops and other materials he would need in order to begin working for the company.  Yet, after requesting these items and conducting wire transfers,  he never received the materials because the money orders were COUNTERFEIT  or had been USED  prior to being received by Claude!

Apparently, the number of on-line scams have increased exponentially and even sites like scam.com or Phishbucket.org cannot discover a scam until someone has complained of being scammed.   My hopes is that by reading this blog and the linked article, you can avoid being a victim of a fraudulent company.

For the second time this week, I am asking all my readers to trust your instincts.  Finding a job is hard work.  Even more difficult is bouncing back from the financial setback of falling into an employment scheme that can wreak havoc on your savings, credit, and dealings with banks and reputable companies in the future.  Avoid being like Claude Vera, whose Chase account is now in collections because he failed to see beyond his current economic situation and allowed his emotions to put him in an even worse situation.

I highly recommend reading the New York Times Article, “Online Scammers Prey on the Jobless“  because it offers some great information, including the names of companies that have been identified as scams and additional tips on how to neutralize the effects of being contacted by a scam company.

As always, good luck with your job search and be careful.

Ayesha Long

www.AyeshaWrites4u.com

Step Up to a Better Career with Professional Resume Services
*** Also be sure to go to Ayesha Writes 4 You’s website and schedule your Free Resume Consultation. From now until August 15th, you can take advantage of our Summer Discount and get 15% off any resume package. So go to www.AyeshaWrites4u.com to get started now!

You’ve found a job…or not?

If you’ve ever read Stepping Up to a Better Career before, then you know I typically write about ways to find a job.  I love to share my expertise and knowledge on resume writing and job searching.  Yet, I read about job scams on CNN’s website and was so angry that I knew I had to share it with my readers.

Nothing angers me more than when people take advantage of other people’s weakness and desperation.  We all know the volatility of the job market.  We’ve also seen the dismal unemployment rates and statistics of  employees laid-off each month.  Yet I can attest to the fact that there are jobs out there!  But in the midst of having readily available jobs for the unemployed, laid-off, or dissatisfied employee, there are leeches who choose to prey on victims of the economy and offer you jobs that turn out to be scams.

Typically, these scam artists are looking to prey on your wallets and will ask for cash or use other means to extract money from you before they can begin the job search process. If you have been contacted by any company asking you to release your social security number or any other information that typically has not been asked of you, remember to always err on the side of caution.  Unless you are being employed or seriously being considered for employment, you should never  give out your social security number.  Other information, such as credit reports, may be pulled, but only with your explicit consent.

If after speaking to a representative, you still have feelings that something may not be right, contact your local Better Business Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, or look on-line at the website scam.com. Most of us are aware of BBB and Chambers as resources to use when searching for a company.  However, failure to be accredited by the BBB or Chambers does not automatically make a company illegitimate.  Some companies choose not to use these organizations and are perfectly trustworthy.

If your prospective company is not a member of the Better Business Bureau or Chambers of Commerce, or even if they are, you should still visit scam.com.  This is a website where employees and customers can write in complaints about a company and explain why they believe a company may be fraudulent.  If your prospective company is listed on the site, then you may need to do additional detective work to determine if you would still like to work for this company.

If your research fails to find any complaints on your prospective employer, but something in your gut tells you that there is something wrong, trust your intuition.  There is no advice I can offer better than to trust in yourself and know that even when your mind is rationalizing a situation, your gut intuition will tell you all you need to know about any particular event.  If you would like to learn more on how to spot job scams, read CNN’s article Six Signs it’s a job scam.

As always, good luck with your job search.

www.AyeshaWrites4u.com

Step Up to a Better Career with Professional Resume Services
*** Also be sure to go to Ayesha Writes 4 You’s website and schedule your Free Resume Consultation. From now until August 15th, you can take advantage of our Summer Discount and get 15% off any resume package. So go to www.AyeshaWrites4u.com to get started now!

Why Hiring You Should Be Like Found Money

Okay, we have another post from our guest blogger, Kevin Donlin, co-creator of The Guerrilla Job Search System DVD.  On his posts, he explains how to use guerrilla warfare tactics to expand your job search.  So instead of passively sending out your professional resumes, you should actively seek out work, while still maintaining your professionalism.

Today, he follows up on yesterday’s post “Who DoYou Know,” and explains why hiring you should be like finding money.  In essence, the key to getting hired is to make an employer feel like you are the answer to all of his employment problems.  Be sure to read Kevin’s articles and if you want to catch the Guerrilla Job Search  tactics captured on video, click here .

As always, good luck with your job search.

Ayesha Long
www.AyeshaWrites4u.com

Step Up to a Better Career with Professional Resume Services

*** Also be sure to go to Ayesha Writes 4 You’s website and schedule your Free Resume Consultation. From now until August 15th, you can take advantage of our Summer Discount and get 15% off any resume package. So go to www.AyeshaWrites4u.com to get started now!

Why Hiring You Should Be Like Finding Money

By Guest Blogger Kevin Donlin

If you found a wallet, full of money and credit cards, with a driver’s license that said: “Warren Buffett, Omaha, Nebraska,” do you think you might be able to meet the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway?

All you’d have to do is call Mr. Buffett and say, “I found your wallet. Can I deliver it in person?”

You would enjoy making that call, having that conversation, and meeting Mr. Buffett.

Well, you can do the same thing with employers — meet them by offering to return “lost” money.

Here’s how: Research a company until you can call a hiring manager and say something like this: “Mr. Smith, I found some lost money that belongs to you. You see, I called your office twice posing as a potential client, and your staff didn’t ask me a simple question that my last employer used to increase revenues 35%. Can I meet you for 15 minutes this week and give you that information?”

You would enjoy making that call, having that conversation, and meeting Mr. Smith. Bring your resume, along with more tips that could help him run his business, and a job interview would be the likely result.

Feeling diffident? Mail a letter with the “found money” information, say you’ll call to discuss, and then call at the appointed time.

Heck, if you really want to stand out and be a Guerrilla, fold up your letter and mail it in a wallet to the employer (buy them at any flea market or dollar store). The headline of your letter can read, “Is this money yours?” No resume needed.

The point is this: When you call to offer someone money, they may be suspicious. When you call to offer to return money they’ve lost, they will hang on your every word.

All you need do is research an employer’s business, industry, clients, and competitors until you find one or two ideas that can make or save a significant amount of money.

Best part: You don’t need to create the money-making/saving ideas, just as you don’t need to create gold nuggets; you need only dig them up. Nobody cares where you found the gold (except the I.R.S.).

If you can’t do this — if you can’t think of ways for someone in your field of work to make or save money — it means you have no idea why an employer should put you on the payroll. Instead of thinking of ways to earn a job, you are waiting for someone to give you one.

And you will have a long wait.

You’ll find many more ideas like this on the new Guerrilla Job Search System DVD.

Personal Branding

When conducting a job search, it’s easy to get caught up in all the little details of your job search materials without actually looking for a job. I like to compare it to a new business owner that focuses on getting business supplies, buying commercial property, creating a business plan, and building a website without ever testing her market.

Any capable business owner would say that the aforementioned business owner had it all wrong. BEFORE buying a single piece of merchandise or property, the business owner should have tested the market first. This way the business owner is opening his business knowledgeably and is well aware of what the consumer wants.

This same principle applies to job searching. BEFORE creating a resume, doing interview preparation, or quitting your job, you should test the market.

Go to the websites of companies of interest and see if they are hiring. Check to see what qualifications they are looking for when it comes to qualified candidates. Create a profile of the prototype candidate the employers are seeking in your industry and then determine how you can be that prototype.

Once you have this information, network. Don’t just tell people you are job seeking – explain to them the kind of candidate you are. Make them eager to sell you to the employers they know.

Create your marketing materials, i.e. your resume, cover letter, and follow up letters around that prototype. This way you are running a capable and efficient job search.

As always, good luck with your job search.

Ayesha Long

www.AyeshaWrites4u.com

Step Up to a Better Career with Professional Resume Services
*** Also be sure to go to Ayesha Writes 4 You’s website and schedule your Free Resume Consultation. From now until August 15th, you can take advantage of our Summer Discount and get 15% off any resume package. So go to www.AyeshaWrites4u.com to get started now!